:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68844467/1270860694.0.jpg)
The last unsigned arbitration-eligible Cub became signed Friday:
Ian Happ has won his arbitration hearing against the Cubs, per source. Happ will earn $4.1 million in 2021; the Cubs had filed at $3.25 million.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) February 19, 2021
Like a lot of arbitration cases, there wasn’t that much of a difference between the two figures, just $850,000. You’d think the Cubs and Ian Happ might have been able to meet in the middle, but that didn’t happen.
Happ made $603,500 (before proration) in 2020, and had a pretty good season: .258/.361/.505 (51-for-198) with 12 home runs in 57 games.
That might have been better had he not accidentally hit himself in the face with a foul ball in Pittsburgh in early September.
Before being hit: .311/.421/.648 (38-for-122), 10 home runs
After being hit: .171/.259/.276 (13-for-76), one home run
Obviously both of those are fairly small sample sizes, but clearly Happ was affected in some way by that foul ball. He missed just one game as a result. Presuming he’s healthy in 2021, I expect big things from him.
The last Cubs arbitration case that went to a hearing was Justin Grimm’s, in 2018. The Cubs won that one, though there was an even smaller difference between Grimm’s ask ($2.475 million) and the team’s offer ($2.2 million).
The team will eventually renew the contracts of all their pre-arbitration players and then the entire roster will be under contract for 2021.